Baking Swaps - Vegan | Keto | GF

Posted by
Ani Blinova on
March 13, 2018

Here at Wink Frozen Desserts, we're ALL about swapping ingredients in traditional recipes for things that are more... ahem... "Gabe-friendly." From turning gluten-full recipes into Celiac-friendly ones, buttery treats into vegan delights, and making everything under the sun sugar-free, here are some simple swaps that can be used to customize every single recipe you come across.

BUTTER:

When cooking/frying, using avocado oil is the best, since it has a super high smoke point (higher than olive oil) and won't turn rancid. It also gives food a more "buttery" flavor.

When baking, we always use melted coconut oil, cup-for cup, in place of butter.

EGGS:

When cooking, it's really easy to use tofu in place of eggs. You can make a fantastic tofu scramble or quiche/frittata.

Tofu Scramble:

Ingredients:

1/2 white onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 block firm tofu, crumbled

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon turmeric

1 tablespoon nutritional yeast

1/4 teaspoon paprika

Directions:

In a large skillet, saute the 1/2 chopped white onion in avocado oil until translucent and fragrant. Add in the minced garlic clove, and saute for a few minutes

Add in the crumbled tofu, starting to warm the whole thing through.

After a couple of minutes, add in the remainder of the ingredients, making sure to mix well so that all of the tofu is covered in the spices. Serve warm and enjoy!!

When baking with eggs, the best way to replace them is to use either a chia egg or a flax egg.

For both versions, take 1 tablespoon ground chia seeds or ground flax seeds, and add to a bowl with 3 tablespoons warm water. Let sit for about 5 minutes to "gel" together. This makes 1 egg.

FLOUR:

When baking, our favorite substitution for flour is a combination of healthy almond flour and coconut flour. For 1 cup of regular flour, substitute with 3/4 cup almond flour and 2 tablespoons coconut flour. Add in baking soda and baking powder as specified in the original recipe, and make sure to add a tiny pinch of salt when using baking soda and/or powder.

If making a gravy or a roux, we prefer to use a 1:1 ratio to arrowroot flour or corn starch - it will work the exact same way flour will!

SUGAR:

This one is a no-brainer - we don't replace sugar with sugar-like substitutes (e.g. maple syrup, agave syrup, coconut sugar, brown rice syrup, etc.). Instead, we use about 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon Better Stevia (doesn't matter what the original quantity of sugar is, usually this much stevia will make your recipe sweet enough). Since we're removing some of the bulk by using a small amount of stevia, make sure that you're adjusting the wet/dry ingredients accordingly. For example:

If the recipe calls for granulated sugar (white sugar, brown sugar, coconut sugar), make sure that when replacing it with stevia, you're cutting down on any liquid also in the recipe so the recipe isn't too liquidy (for example, cut down on some of the milk/almond milk)

If the recipe calls for a sticky sweetener (maple syrup, agave, brown rice syrup, honey), be sure to cut out a bit of the dry ingredient (like flour) so the recipe isn't too dry

The only time this will not work is when trying to make a glaze/frosting, since that is just pure sugar. Instead, we love to blend 1 cup soaked cashews with 1/4 cup almond milk and 1/4 teaspoon stevia as a "frosting".

You can flavor this frosting with things like lemon (zest and juice), orange (zest and juice), vanilla extract/vanilla bean, or almond extract.

MILK:

This one is also a no-brainer. We always, always, always use nut milk as a replacement for milk in recipes. We hardly ever use store-bought, though - homemade is the best! Making homemade almond milk requires a bit of effort, but it's absolutely incredible.

To make almond milk, soak 1 cup raw almonds overnight, or for at least 6 hours. Rinse well and drain. Blend with 3 cups of filtered water. Run the mixture through a cheesecloth/nut milk bag - the liquid is pure almond milk!

Making milks from cashews or hemp seeds is even easier, since no straining is required. Simply blend 1 cup soaked raw cashews or 1 cup raw hemp seeds with 3 cups of filtered water, and that's it! You can add things while blending such as vanilla, sea salt, stevia (for sweetness), but we like these milks plain!

Alternatively, we also use canned coconut milk - the kind where the only ingredients are coconut and water.

All of these recipes, and more, can be found in Volume 1 of our Wink Bible! What are some of your favorite cooking/baking swaps?